"Get on the carriage."
Alice sat in one of the carriages that had been prepared for her trip to the north, leaning against the open window as she impatiently tapped the frame. The carriage was already moving, and had been for quite some time already, but her continued requests simply refused to relent.
"No can do. It's a good chance for you to show yourself in a more official setting and make some allies. Following the usual procedure, at least for appearance's sake, is for the best."
Gabriel rode on a horse next to the carriage, and it was him that Alice's slightly annoyed gaze was focused on. He was clad in his usual armour, blackish-blue leather with metal pauldrons that went down to his elbow and then connected with the gauntlets he wore. The leather armour retained the style of the first armour that Lawrence gave him, with belts and buckles rather than buttons on the front to close it. It didn't offer the same level of defence as pure metal armour, but the flexibility suited him better.
"It's fine, we're going to stop by a village for the night before we reach the Barong estate anyway. It's cold, so get on."
Alice continued to pout, resting her chin on the window as she stretched her arm out of the window, catching some of the snowflakes. Since it was an official visit they naturally used the Portals to cut down the travel time, thanks to this they were technically already in the northern duchy despite not even a full day passing.
But they didn't drop by right in front of the estate belonging to the ducal family in charge of the north, the Barong family. It was customary to arrive a certain distance away from their capital so that you could observe the state of the surrounding land as well while resting in one of their villages. And it was precisely this village they were heading to now.
"You'll manage. Just consider it a trial and grit your teeth."
It was rather cold now that they had reached the north, but the inside of Gabriel's armour was lined with fur so it wasn't too bad. He'd also studied about these visits in advance so he knew a bit about why they had some of their customs.
The general essence behind forcing the visitors to observe the surroundings was to show off. Look at our flourishing villages, look at our wealthy citizens, compare them to your own and despair. But there was one more thing that the visits could be used for, mainly between families that didn't have the best relationships, slander.
The ducal family that owned the land didn't have to wait in their estate, they could send out a delegation to 'greet' their visitors. If said delegation happened to be hiding in a village when the visitors arrived, and assuming that the ducal family wasn't there decided to treat the villagers with arrogance and scorn, the delegation could then reveal themselves and take the chance to slander the visitors for how they treat the citizens. It was rather petty, and really only served to humiliate the visitors, but to some families that was enough.
The procession from the Vritara duchy continued their journey, Alice continuing to nag Gabriel about getting onto the carriage. It was to the point that he almost felt bad for Teresa, who was practically completely ignored as she sat there. Well, she didn't seem to mind, as she was tending to a flower with her magic, its yellow petals growing deeper in colour as she poured her mana into it.
Gabriel allowed his eyes to wander, the horse he was using was exceptionally well trained so he didn't even need to really control it. As was to be expected of the north, there was a constant drizzle of snow from above, a layer of white covering practically everything. The terrain was wavy and uneven, rock formations, hills, basins, and valleys scattered about.
And then there was one of the three things that the Barong territory was famous for, its evergreens. Even in this cold and hardy land, the forests thrived. Tall cedars and spruce trees rose skyward to break up the white monotony, their trunks famed for their sturdiness and mana resistance.
The village they would rest at could already be seen in the distance, but even so, the trees still rose up high. Part of the forest went all the way up to the village, almost incorporating itself into the man-made structures. But stranger yet than this sight was what he saw the people doing outside the village.
Farming. Here, in this frozen land, they were farming. It wasn't wheat or fruits, but they were definitely growing something there. Farmers were tending to the crops, white bushes that resembled shrubs, each one dotted with small orange specks that seemed to be the 'fruits'.
Granted, this was a magical world, so perhaps farming in a frozen land like this wouldn't normally be strange. But Gabriel knew that these things didn't exist in the original show. It was a theme that the north was constantly struggling with food stocks because of the frozen land, they had to import most vegetables and relied heavily on hunting. The import prices and taxes they suffered led to one of the major conflicts in the fourth season, and was one of the reasons they were hostile to the Vritara clan.
"Abigail introduced them."
Alice's voice reached him from the carriage. She was tracing his gaze and looking at the shrubs while still resting her head on the window frame of the carriage.
"She said that they're good for the heart and high in fibre so they're good to eat, pack them together and you can even use them as a meat replacement. Altare helped her engineer them so she's pretty proud of them. She introduced a few more plants, but I'm not seeing them so they probably aren't grown here."
Gabriel's gaze narrowed slightly as Alice explained the origin of the plants. Altare and Abigail… There had never been a moment in the show where they got together and manufactured plants, Altare generally only made resources for cultivation or the occasional poison. So this… This was different from the show.
Granted, he had changed quite a few things already so this wasn't the first thing different from the original show. But this was a change he didn't have a hand in, it was entirely unrelated to him even.
"That's… Troublesome."
He'd had the suspicion a few times in the past, especially after the Spirit Awakening Ceremony. But now it was practically proven. Someone other than him was interfering, he wasn't the only one here who knew about the original show. Now, the question remained, was it Altare or Abigail? He leaned towards the latter, but couldn't entirely disregard the former either.
The problems this led to was actually quite simple, he had no idea what plans they might have, and their scope of influence was magnitudes greater than his. Especially if it turned out to be Abigail, as it stood there would be nothing he could do against her should she try to act against them. He'd have no choice but to turn tail and run, it would just be troublesome to drag everyone else with him.
Luckily, they didn't seem to be enemies, at least not on the surface. Abigail had given Alice gifts and was acting as her friend, and Altare had barely made any public appearances, only his inventions kept flowing out.
"Ahhh, it's annoying."
He couldn't stop muttering to himself. Even if they weren't enemies, it was a situation he couldn't control and that irked him. Once you lost control it was too easy for things to fall apart in a domino effect.
"What is? The farming?"
Naturally, with him muttering to himself without end, Alice could easily hear him. He felt like clicking his tongue when his old habit got him caught, it wasn't the first time, be it this one or his past life.
"No, the farming's fine. I just wasn't expecting to see it happen here in the frozen lands. There's something that's slipping out of my control even after I've worked so hard, that's what's annoying. But I'll just have to work harder to be ready for unexpected events, I still have my promise to you that I need to keep."
He didn't go into specifics, Alice immediately understanding that it was because it was something he didn't want to answer. Something like that came up from time to time, he'd either avoid specifics or just stay quiet, he had a rule to never lie to an ally after all. She wasn't bothered by it, she'd get an answer sooner or later.
"Yeah, I can understand that feeling. I've got something I'm trying to get my hands on but its proving remarkably slippery so I'm also getting annoyed by it. Tell you what, how about we both just work a bit harder, keep our promises and get our hands on what we want, and then hold a grand old celebration afterwards to show off to the whole empire?"
Alice snickered lightly as she leaned against the window, one side of her lips curling up into a lopsided smirk. But Gabriel wasn't looking at her at the moment so he couldn't catch a glimpse of it and simply nodded his head.
"Sounds good. The inauguration of a new Duchess is more than enough reason to drag the empire into a celebration for a week or two."
With their position, no one would complain if a duke wanted to hold an empire-wide celebration. One past duke had even kept a festival going for over a month after he took the seat, he drained almost a fifth of his duchy's coffers and was swiftly killed by, and replaced by, his brother. Well, he'd make sure that Alice didn't suffer that fate so it should be fine.
"Good. I'll hold you to those words, Gabriel, so you'd best not forget them."
The voice that came from behind him sounded quite happy so she was probably looking forward to wandering through the festival they would put on in that distant future. But for some reason, he had an itching sensation at the back of his neck, like that time he walked into the ambush that cost him his fingers.
———
"See, this is exactly why I insisted we followed official procedure."
Gabriel couldn't help but comment after their procession entered the village. Alice puffed out her cheeks, clearly not agreeing with him.
Standing a bit ahead of them, at the centre of the village, was a group of people with their own carriage behind them. Emblazoned on the side of said blue carriage was a white lion roaring at the sky, frozen mountains encircling it. Written beneath the insignia was the motto of the Barong family.
King of the pack, Lord of the mountain.
"Greetings, Young Lady Alice. I am Arioch Arie Barong, and I welcome you to our territory."
The one standing at the head of the group greeted their procession when they got close enough, offering a polite bow with his hand to his chest. Long and wild hair that was as white as the snow around them, with a few translucent blue stripes running through it. Stark golden irises with a pupil that was narrower than on a normal human, and a muscular frame with somewhat pale skin.
Arioch Arie Barong, the Young Master of the Barong duchy. He only had a single sibling, and said sibling had already renounced their right to succession in favour of helping Arioch receive a stable throne when he became duke.
He also had another name, one he only used when he worked undercover. The One-Eyed Golden Leopard, a name Gabriel had once borrowed to make the northern duchy launch their ambush on Leonardo.
"Thank you for the warm welcome, Young Master Arioch, I am pleasantly surprised that you came to greet us personally."
Alice stepped out of the carriage to return the greeting, Gabriel acting as her knight and escort as he brought her forward. She was clad in a flowing red dress decorated with black and silver lace, a thick dark grey fur coat draped over the dress to shield her from the snow. Normally, this would be when she extended her hand so that Arioch could kiss her knuckles to finish the greeting as equals, but she didn't give him her hand, and he didn't seem to be expecting it either.
"It is only right, is it not? Please, allow us to guide you to the inn where you'll spend the night, in the morning we'll head to the estate."
There was a slight smile on Arioch's face as he gestured to the side, Alice giving a light wave of her hand to indicate that he should lead the way. Lawrence and Trisha took care of the carriages while one man in Arioch's party took care of their own carriage, the rest following Arioch on foot.
They were already at the centre of the city so it didn't take long for them to reach their finest inn, a three story building made from the wooden logs that Barong was famous for. A warm air exuded from the building, a thin white layer covering the roof as a bit of smoke rose from the chimney.
The inside was decorated with furs and crystals, or it could be ice, Gabriel couldn't tell at a glance. The workers were already waiting for them, standing in two rows as they formed a path, their waists bent to nearly 90 degrees.
"Tartak, prepare the lodging for the servants on the first floor."
Arioch spoke to one of the men who followed him, a burly fellow who had a gnarled and twisted scar covering nearly the entire left half of his face. The man nodded, but Alice stretched out her hand before he could do anything.
"That one will have the room next to mine."
Gabriel was at the end of her finger, Alice's expression placid but brooking no room for discussion.
"As you wish. Tartak, prepare it."
The burly man could only nod his head to the renewed order, bringing along the servants with him so that he could get them to their rooms. This naturally included Gabriel, who Alice sent away while following Arioch into the VIP room he would have for the night.
Once inside, the polite smile faded from his face as he slumped down in a chair, resting his head on his hand, a finger on his temple as he looked at Alice with an intrigued expression.
"Alright, now it's just us so I'll stop it with the sickly act. Your letter. What do you want in exchange for your aid?"
It wasn't a coincidence that he was here to greet them. Alice had contacted him in advance. In fact, they had been exchanging letters secretly for some time now, it was just that this was their first time meeting in person. Alice also sat down in a chair of her own and crossed her legs, leaning forward so that she could rest her chin on her clasped hands. This was a moment she had been waiting for for quite some time already.
"The Barong inheritance. I need the ability to let someone form a bond with a demon or something with demon blood in its veins. One use, and then we have a deal."